There comes a time in every woman’s life when she looks in the mirror and says, “THAT’S IT MAN! I’m not gonna look like this anymore!” This special time has come more than once for me, I’d say this is probably the third time I’ve had one of those serious talks with myself. Better late (or again) than never!

I read this post last week, and decided to try it out. This girl sounds like she knows what she’s talking about, and I want to look beefy, okay? Not really, I just want to be healthy and get in shape, and I agree 100% with her entire post. So on Monday I started trying to “lift heavy” like she talks about, which basically meant using more weight on the machines in my tiny gym at my apartment complex. I felt a little sore after a couple days, #winning. Then I found this groupon thingy for 30 fitness classes for 20 bucks!! So I bought it, of course.

I was supposed to get 10 classes from a gym just down the street from me, so I signed up for one, printed my voucher and marched in there at 8:15 ON MY DAY OFF, yup. They informed me that they weren’t honoring the groupon anymore, but that I could still attend the class that day and they would give me a couple more to make up for it. (Awesome, right? By the way, the gym is Chucktown Fitness and I highly recommend it!) The class kicked my booty and on top of that every staff member working knew my name by the time I walked out the door. And no, that’s not because I was so uncoordinated or just incredibly awesome at the workout, they are just super nice. (But for the record, I was incredibly awesome at the workout, the trainer told me so.)

I was so overwhelmingly impressed by this gym that I actually went back the next day and joined! And it gets better…I went to ask a trainer to show me how to do something and he worked with me one-on-one for 30 minutes until I couldn’t walk anymore. Lunges for days.

Today I feel like I’ve put in such effort this week, and not just because my legs are sore every time I move them, along with my triceps, but because my whole mentality has changed (besides the pizza I ate last night). I keep wanting to see a change in the scale or in my measurements but I know that’s unrealistic. I’m going to have to have many more weeks like this one and slowly things will change and I will feel better and better about myself! After all, it’s not for anyone but myself and my body. Fitness should be self-improvement, not comparing yourself to others and setting goals based on how someone else’s body looks.

Bottom line is, I hope I want to put on my bikini in May. Fat chance, sista, but we gon’ keep workin’.

I’ve found that the harder I try to lose weight and “be good,” the more random people make it challenging for me. I made note of a few examples over the last week or so.

First, one fine Monday, I had a particular hankerin’ for Wendy’s, as I sometimes get. What? I enjoy their “sea salt” fries and floppy burgers every once in a while, okay? I told myself that what I really needed was quarters to do laundry, and used Wendy’s as an excuse to ask someone behind a cash register for laundry change. Two birds with one stone, people. I also said to myself, “Self, you don’t have a lot of money right now since you’re saving up for your New York trip, so let’s keep this order sweet and simple, under $3.” No big, that’s what value menus are for. With all of this churning in my dieting brain, I ordered a Jr. Cheeseburger…NOT a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, just to clarify. And a value fry. And a small diet coke, just for kicks and giggles. The lady told me my total would be six dollars and something. I said no, no. Just take that drink off, I didn’t need the carbonation anyways. She then told me my new total was four dollars and something, whatever lady, just give me my burger before I change my mind about this trip entirely. I asked the not-so-friendly worker if she had any quarters and she answered, “I already closed my drawer.” Oh, awesome. So I drive away and when I get home I see that there are actually TWO Jr. Cheeseburgers in the bag. And I DEFINITELY did not eat both of them. Nope, definitely not. And in case you were wondering, that meal was 940 calories.

Second, I joined some friends at a restaurant/bar downtown this past Sunday to watch some rugby. Well, I just went because Rob bribed me with brunch. My dieting brain + hunger pangs told me to get the ham and cheese, which sounded like a simple sandwich that would satiate me until dinner. My “ham and cheese” was plopped in front of me, the “sandwich” was actually two giant pieces of texas toast with about half a pound of ham in between, melted cheesy deliciousness covering the entire square footage of the sandwich, and a perfectly cooked duck egg on top. It looked incredible, but all I saw was CALORIES CALORIES CALORIES. Funny enough, one of the guys with us looked at me and said, “Allie, you won’t eat that whole thing.” And I replied, “Challenge accepted, sir.” And so it goes…I ate the whole darn thing. And it was SOO GUD.